1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to instrument picks, specifically to a magnetic instrument pick and its method of manufacture.
2. Description of the Related Art
An instrument pick may be a plectrum used for guitars, or a guitar pick. A pick is generally made of one uniform material; examples include plastic, nylon, rubber, felt, tortoiseshell, wood, metal, glass, and stone. They are often shaped in an acute isosceles triangle with the two equal corners rounded and the third corner rounded to a lesser extent. Pick shapes started with guitarists shaping bone, shell, wood, cuttlebone, metal, amber, stone or ivory to get the desired shape.
Playing guitar with a pick produces a bright sound compared to plucking with the fingertip. Picks also offer a greater contrast in tone across different plucking locations; for example, the difference in brightness between plucking close to the bridge and close to the neck is much greater when using a pick compared to a fingertip. Conversely, the many playing techniques that involve the fingers, such as those found in fingerstyle guitar, slapping, classical guitar, and flamenco guitar, can also yield an extremely broad variety of tones. Guitar picks vary in thickness to accommodate different playing styles and kinds of strings. Thinner plectra are more flexible and tend to offer a wider range of sounds, from soft to loud, and produce a “click” that emphasizes the attack of the picking. However, some argue that heavier picks produce a brighter tone. Some improvements have been made in the field. Examples of references related to the present invention are described below in their own words, and the supporting teachings of each reference are incorporated by reference herein:
U.S. Pat. No. 7,186,908, issued to Hodesh et al., discloses a conventional guitar pick is retrofitted with a special adhesion material covering a selected surface region of the pick so as to enhance gripping between thumb and finger for playing and to provide convenient temporary storage, when not in use for playing, by temporary attachment onto a nearby object such as the body of the guitar. The adhesion material, specially structured to utilize suction to grip onto any smooth surface without leaving marks or residue when removed, is adhesively attached to the pick in the form of a tape or film to provide a suction gripping surface formed by special structure ranging, from multiple articulated suction cups integrally molded from rubber-like material in a uniform grid pattern, to foam-like material with a random pattern of suction pores of size ranging down to microscopic.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,933,430, issued to Oskorep, discloses a guitar pick holder is made of a thin, flat, and visually appealing flexible magnet which adheres to a front outside surface of a guitar. A guitar pick which is used with the holder is made of a synthetic material but also includes a magnetically receptive material (e.g. iron) formed on or within the synthetic material. The guitar pick is magnetically held against a front magnetic surface of the flexible magnet and is thereby carried with the guitar, even when it is subject to relatively strong forces of accelerative motion (i.e. when the guitar is physically handled or shaken).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,335,477, issued to Miller, discloses securable instrument picks for uses as thumbpicks (10) and/or fingerpicks (10) providing a string-actuating tip (20) to the side of a distal phalange (14) for a conjoined engagement of the string-actuating tip and the distal phalange against a string (42). The actuating tips may be off-set cantilevered in the character of their securement to the distal phalange, whereby a pressure resulting from an up- or downstroke upon the string is carried through the pick and delivered against the upper or lower pads, respectively, of the distal phalange. The provided picks facilitate a novel method of use in which the fingertip-flesh of the distal phalange and the string-actuating tip may be conjoined together in a stroke against the string. The provided picks also facilitate a method of producing flatpicking-type musical effects by up- and downstrokes of a single finger, tilted sideward toward the strings.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,791,017, issued to Oskorep, discloses methods of making guitar pick holders from flexible magnetic materials are described. In one illustrative example, a magnetic side of a flexible magnetic sheet is laminated with a vinyl sheet which provides a coloring and/or design. The side opposite this magnetic side is laminated with a static cling vinyl sheet, after text is reverse-printed on its non-static cling side. Coloring, design, and/or text may also be printed on the vinyl sheet. The laminated flexible magnetic sheet is then die cut to simultaneously form a plurality of guitar pick holders of a predetermined shape. Other methods are described, including methods of individually making custom guitar pick holders.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,382, issued to Tsuchida et al., discloses a very simple but effective means for preventing surface oxidation of fine metal powders by coating the metal powder with an organic dye. This method of surface-oxidation prevention is particularly useful for the preparation of a so-called plastic magnet which is prepared by uniformly blending a dye-coated fine powder of a magnetic alloy such as a rare earth-cobalt based permanent magnet with a thermoplastic resin such as a nylon or polyphenylene sulfide resin followed by molding the resin-powder blend into a magnet form. In addition to the remarkably improved magnetic properties of the thus prepared plastic magnets as a result of high loading and absence of degradation by oxidation, the danger of spontaneous ignition of the magnet powder in molding can be eliminated almost completely. Surface treatment of the dye-coated magnet powder with a silicone fluid gives further improved results.
The inventions heretofore known suffer from a number of disadvantages which include being limited in use, being limited in adaptability, being limited in flexibility, being expensive, being difficult to use, lacking healing properties, being devoid of health benefits, being uncomfortable, not being adaptable or customizable, failing to adhere to desired surfaces, being difficult to grip, not being able to wrap about guitar strings, being unable to be instantly customized to a plurality of users, and failing to connect items together.
What is needed is an instrument pick and its method of manufacture that solves one or more of the problems described herein and/or one or more problems that may come to the attention of one skilled in the art upon becoming familiar with this specification.